Welsh Education Minister Kirsty Williams announced no end of year GCSE, AS level or A level exams. This was supported by unions. The Education Select Committee agreed with DfE ministers that exams should take place in England but that contingencies and adaptations need to be considered. That was also the message from HMCI Amanda Spielman and in a report by the thinktank EPI. A lot can happen before next summer 2021 and so it will be interesting to see if the positions in England and Norther Ireland change and if so, to what extent.

Ofsted published a series of reports highlighting the impact of the pandemic across education, including the regression in learning since the first lockdown.

And the week has been bookended by proposals from UCAS and UUK on university admissions. Both call for a switch to a post qualification system but differ on how it would work. With a Higher Education White Paper expected before the end of the year, expect the PQA debate to intensify.

In the latest of our Policy Blog Series, Sharon Hague discusses why the UK cannot fail at online learning.